On 23.12.2007 00:04 aeneas wrote:Every once in a while I think I'll play a game of NPP with quests- I inevitably get too bored to keep it up. This time I got a really nice reward at dlvl 16 though. For this character those boots are perfect- the stealth is actually better than the speed. Also got Thengel at 1400', but have yet to wear it.

Unfortunately I got my stats badly scrambled around 1400' or so- bot only did I lose about a third of my hit points, it meant that even with a decent ring of Con my hp were pretty low. So I wound up spending some time looking for stat potions in the 30s. Didn't manage to get the hp to anything decent until past 3000'. I had actually intended to go down slowly with this char, since early turn-count was already high from questing and getting scrambled. But once I was past 2500' it seemed to make sense to go to Wym depth, and once I was there it seemed to make sense to go to Speed depth.

Anyway, just found first uncursed RoS at 3900' (saw a cursed one drop fairly early)- luckily the pval is good. Had been either +5 or +8, but generally slowed by ammo, until now. Anyway, got a fair bit of stuff I need to pitch from the house- thinking about keeping the flail though, even though it aggravates, but not sure I'll ever use it... it would be nice against the Angels if I could get them away from other dangerous stuff, but it's heavy enough I don't want to carry it around.

!Speed has been scarce. I've quaffed maybe 3 so far, and had a couple frozen. Need to start stockpiling them now though.

On 24.12.2007 04:38 aeneas wrote:Dropped a bit, killed Saruman in a fairly pitched battle. He dropped the Palantir, Belangil, and Anarion. The Palantir is nice in NPP (no aggro). Found Nenya a bit later. Eol dropped Crisdurian. Teased the Wyrms out of a Black Dragon pit and got Arvedui. It's tempting to swap for it and cover Nexus and Shards, but I think I'll keep wearing Celeborn for the moment- I've only used the activation two or three times so far, always on hounds, but it has come in handy in those cases. Need to get rid of some stuff again- Anguirel can go, and maybe Thranduil. I also have a surfeit of amulets, but they all are potentially useful. Probably Sustenance could go except that it's looking like I might have to melee Morgoth... the only Slay Evil or Holy Might ammo so far was the ten pebbles bought from a store a long time ago. Mo Mass Banishment scrolls so far either...

Thinking about going after Sauron now. Those seeker bolts should make short work of him- looks to me like around 800 damage per hit. All the deep uniques are still around though, which could make Sauron on a small level kind of dangerous.

On 25.12.2007 09:28 aeneas wrote:Messed around a bit looking to see what I could pick up. Found Aglarang, which is useful as a RoS +5 when I am not planning to melee, but otherwise my kit was not improving. Went down to see about Sauron... wound up in a position where he couldn't find his way to me, but I didn't feel like teleport-bouncing to get a good position because of other stuff on the level- had already teleported Gothmog away. Ar-Pharazon was there though, and I figured 4950' is as good a place to kill him as any. He dropped this randart (?) light xbow... too bad about the +to_dam, but it's still a ridiculous weapon. Unfortunately, it aggravates... and on small levels... well, there will always be some deep uniques I don't want to deal with.

Still, thinking about going level shopping to find a setup where I can use it safely. If I've done the math right I should be able to kill Sauron with 8 hits from the Acid Branded Seekers. Maybe try to scare up a source of *Destruction* first. Definitely wishing I had found some Slay Evil Bolts. Other than the low +to_dam this xbow is basically equivalent to a V ranger with Belthronding and better than an NPP ranger with Bard.

On 25.12.2007 10:19 aeneas wrote:Errm- I mean, of course, not 8 hits... 8 rounds in which all missiles hit.